Sunday, April 8, 2012

favorite photos

As we've looked back over our photos and videos from China, certain photos jump out at me.

That's one of my favorites.

So is that one.

Ohh, so is that one!

So, I thought I'd throw some on here so you guys can see into our trip a little more. Now that it's over (and the difficulty of it is over, too), I can enjoy the memories and photos even more.

This was in the Tokyo airport. When we were in China (as I'm sure y'all were aware too), Japan acknowledged the year mark since the devastating earthquake and tsunami. It was all over CNN while we were there. And CNN, Nat Geo and Discovery Channel were the only English channels we had, so we watched a lot of reflective programs around that horrible natural disaster.

Hong Kong airport the morning of 'Gotcha Day.' We were getting ready to catch our flight to Fuzhou and got James that afternoon. JD and me 'before James.'

Full circle.

Back at the Hong Kong airport (even the same restaurant & table!).

We're getting ready to catch our flight back to the States!

JD and me with James!

In Fuzhou. Crib's all set and ready to go!

All we need is James.

At the restaurant at the hotel. This is around 1:00 PM; we got James at 4:00. We were just waiting. These two little girls walked up...I think they were enthralled with Payton.

Or maybe it was the Cokes! We drank more Coke than I care to admit because we weren't drinking the water and they didn't sell bottled water -- and they wouldn't let us bring our own bottled water into the restaurant.

Our very first moments with James.

We look at his expression now and can see fear.

He's just not sure. We were just so glad he wasn't crying!

Sadly, one of our favorite meals at the Lakeside Hotel!

This was the firsttime James let go and relaxed into me. I hugged him and then when I let go he stayed near. I was in heaven.

I still crave this broccoli. In fact, the sight of this photo makes my mouth water!

These bronze characters reminded us of Tennessee (more specifically the Jack Daniel's Distillery and Lynchburg), so JD had to do a little knee smacking.

This little cutie was hanging out at her parents' store on the Island. We had to get a photo of her cuteness -- and her 'traditional dress' in that she is so, so bundled and it was about 55 degrees that day. It's no wonder that we heard over and over again that the adoptive children have very little muscle tone and strength to stand, crawl, and walk.

One of the many stores on the Island.

Guangzhou is known for its wedding dresses, so we saw models everyday on the Island being photographed. It was neat.

How 'bout the yellow shoes? Pretty cool.

This 'chair' was in the lobby of our hotel in Hong Kong. This is the morning that we left for home!